Punishment and reward…Listening to “Infiltration.Downfall.Death” is at once a painful and exhilarating experience for those who can understand its purpose and appreciate its power. Those squeamish cowards for whom this album does not evoke such a strong response were simply not meant to understand it. Not since “War Cult Supremacy” has an album decimated the listener in so vile a manner as Revenge have done with this, their third full-length album. The new anthems of superiority and subjugation presented on “Infiltration.Downfall.Death” are the purest embodiment of violence recorded this decade. Within the first cacophonous seconds of ‘Death Heritage’, the listener is dragged unwittingly into the chaos. J. Read (Conqueror, Axis of Advance) and P. Helmkamp (Order From Chaos, Angelcorpse) are veterans in crafting the sound of total annihilation and have brought their songwriting and playing to a new peak of extremity with this recording. Cold, bitter, and brutal, Revenge leave nothing to chance with these songs. Every chord change and drum fill has been calculated to channel the most intense form of disgust and contempt. It is this quality of total control against a backdrop of disorder, suffering, and war that sets “Infiltration.Downfall.Death” apart from the meager output that passes for extreme metal these days. This album is not some childish attempt to rebel against politically correct society just for the sake of rebelling, nor is it rooted in a fantasy world of Satan and magick. This album is firmly rooted in reality. Read and Helmkamp have seen the shit and scum of which our societies are primarily composed and rejected every worthless piece of it. This rejection is not a surface-level statement made for show or status. Rather, it forms the core around which Revenge operates. It is integral to the two individuals in the band and vital to the spirit of the music they create. “Infiltration.Downfall.Death” explores the depths of hate from the perspective of those truly enlightened enough to recognize that the path of power and self-reliance is the only path worth taking. Those too meek and sensitive to appreciate this outlook would do well to cower within their comfortable society and cling to all of the sterile accoutrements of the modern world that permit one to avoid acknowledging the pervasive sickness all around us. Revenge is mockery of that pitiful existence. Revenge is recognition that the so-called “noble” ideals of compassion and faith are tenuous and certain to give way in the face of the impending chaos encroaching upon our idyllic world as the fabric holding it together is gnawed away by the mouths of vermin. At that moment when the fantastic image to which feeble men cling is shattered and the harsh and alienating winds of reality blow forth, then, only those men who have embraced their isolation and purged fear from their hearts will remain upright. All others are certain to fall and be trampled underfoot.

Received mine on Saturday. One of the best looking vinyl presentations I've ever seen. And I was never too big on Revenge, but this sealed it all for me...total crushing album. Going to spin it a lot methinks. Great job on this, Yosuke.